Dear Family and Friends,

As we continue preparing our hearts for Easter, let’s spend our time on one of several Maundy Thursday events.

The Lord’s Supper. The washing of the disciples’ feet. The revealing of the betrayer. The prediction of Peter’s denial.

There are so many lessons in each of these events.

But it was Jesus’ parting words to His disciples that stood out for me this week.

As I read through John 14-17, I was struck by how Jesus kept coming back to one word. The word love.

Over the course of four chapters, as He prepared and encouraged His disciples, Jesus spoke of love a total of twenty-five times.

Many were commands to love. Most were agape sacrificial love.

Why was I struck?

Because with hindsight, we know what was likely on Jesus’ mind as He taught His final lesson.

Jesus was well aware of the pain and suffering and death to come. For the events of Friday were prophesied in Isaiah 52 and 53. Yet He spoke of love.

Here are a few excerpts.

52:14“Just as there were many who were appalled at him— his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness.”

Jesus knew He would soon face violent torture disfiguring Him beyond human likeness. His appearance would be appalling – shocking to the point of horrifying.

53:3“Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.”

Jesus knew He would soon be despised – strongly disliked and held to have no value.

53:8“By oppressionand judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.”

Jesus knew He would soon be the victim of injustice. Convicted based on falsehoods.

Jesus knew the horrors He would soon face. Yet He pressed on and accomplished the work the Father gave Him to do.

None of us have faced anything close to what Jesus underwent.

Yet few, if any, of us are able to think of others in the midst of adversity. Or are able to press on with the Lord’s work rather than tend to our troubles.

So, how can we be more like Jesus when facing hard times?

The first step is: Trust in Jesus.

“The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these.”  John‬ ‭14‬:‭10‬ NIV‬‬

The second step is: Love like Jesus.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.”  John‬ ‭15‬:‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus went to the cross because of His agape love for us.

We are commanded to do likewise. To love Jesus and love others in the same way, with agape sacrificial love.

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”  John‬ ‭15‬:‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

By losing everything, Jesus gained you and me.

in Mere Christianity, CS Lewis tells us what we will gain when we lose everything.

“The principle runs through all life from top to bottom.

Give up your self, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it.

Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fiber of your being, and you will find eternal life.

Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead.

Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay.

But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”

The last step is: Keep your eyes on the ending.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  ‭‭John‬ ‭16‬:‭33‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This is my go to verse in times of anxiety.

Yes, there’s a lot going on in this world that gives us anxiety.

But they don’t really matter – because we have Jesus.

In love always,